This Saturday’s clash between The Sharks and Blue Bulls is all about pressure – dealing with it and exerting it – according to Sharks assistant coach Grant Bashford.

With the Boland game now well behind The Sharks, the one major lesson learned is about patience. “We spoke about how impatient we were and how we frustrated ourselves with lots of mistakes,” explains Bashford, “so we just need to work on building a bit more pressure by keeping the ball for longer periods of time.

Obviously the challenges presented by the Blue Bulls and Boland are fairly contrasting, and a much tighter, more physically competitive game will be on the cards at Loftus after The Sharks were able to score eight tries against Boland and succeed in keeping their try line intact.

The good thing about games against the Blue Bulls is the sheer intensity, there is a competitive spirit between the two sides that runs back many years over many big games and Saturday will be no different as The Sharks look to consolidate their position on top of the log and the Blue Bulls look to leash in a run of two losses and prevent a third one in succession.

“You always know what it it’s like against the Blue Bulls up there, and they’ve come off two losses so they are going to be desperate,” he says. “They’re in a similar boat to us in respect of missing Bok players and it’s going to be one of those typical Bulls-Sharks games where the team that plays the longest and hardest will probably get the result.”
At this stage of the tournament and currently top of the log, with a few more wins for The Sharks, a home semi beckons. Should they win this weekend, and then with a run of three home games before their final pool match – against Griquas in Kimberley – they would fancy their chances of remaining in contention for the play-offs.

The next two games are going to be vital, the Blue Bulls this weekend then the Cheetahs at home the next. “They are difficult ones,” agrees Bashford, “but we don’t want to start thinking about the Cheetahs yet, we still have a job at hand this weekend. But we’re sitting on 32 points and if we pick up another win, then get our Boks coming back; we’ll be in a good position. We also have two of the so-called lesser sides to play, the Leopards at home and the Griquas away which won’t be easy, but at full-strength, we’ll be backing ourselves.

“There is a lot to play for but ultimately, for us, it’s all about the Blue Bulls this Saturday.”

Asked if the coaching staff have identified any weaknesses in the Blue Bulls, he points to a traditional strength as an area that has been battling recently. “Their pack hasn’t been going well if you look at the last two games, but if you look at the players they’re missing, it’s a bit like us with a lot of our forwards out and we’ve also picked up a couple of injuries here and there so they are pretty much in the same boat as us with their pack.

“So despite the fact that they might not have done well in the set pieces against Province, I didn’t expect them to. That Province pack is pretty much their Super 14 pack bolstered with guys like Chris Jack and Anton van Zyl so if you had asked me before who I thought would dominate the set piece, I’d have said Province, so with us in a similar position, it should be a good contest at set piece and obviously in those big games it’s the detail, the little bits, the intensity and who plays the hardest and longest that matters. It could come down to kicks at goal.”

Exerts of this Article was taken from sharksrugby.co.za, the Official home of the Sharks.